For Tuesday, April 11, WGN’s Dina Bair has the latest on new medical information, including:

Pregnancy appears to protect women from developing long COVID

Weill Cornell Medicine researchers conducted a long-term study on the condition that lasts long after a person recovers from an initial COVID-19 infection. 

Looking at data from 280,000 women, they found a critical gap in long COVID for those who got sick during pregnancy. 

Experts suspect enhanced immunity and lowered inflammation, which women experience for the six months after giving birth, protect against the ravages of long COVID-19, including brain swelling, cognitive trouble, sleep disorders, shortness of breath, chest pain, diabetes, joint pain, fever, and fatigue.  

If you’re looking to shed pounds, one method may bring more success. 

The American College of Physicians recommends intermittent fasting as a superior way to lose weight over daily caloric restriction. 

Those who practiced the 4:3 intermittent fasting diet, restricting calories for three days a week and eating a healthy normal diet for four days, lost more weight over a year than those who simply restricted calories daily. 

The study of 165 people over a year showed that intermittent fasting led to a 10% greater weight loss than constant calorie restriction. 

The study is published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. 

More people are getting the message about alcohol’s connection to cancer. 

A new survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania shows public awareness of the elevated cancer risk from drinking alcohol is growing. 

The surgeon general has called for a warning label on alcoholic beverages to indicate the threat from drinking. 

Various studies have shown a link between alcohol and at least seven types of cancer, including breast, colon, and liver cancers. 

Throughout the country, the warning has prompted 29% of respondents to actively restrict the amount of alcohol they drink. 

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